Art… How can something so accepted be so difficult to process? Whether it’s music, painting, poetry or photography… everyone has a way of expressing themselves. So if everyone can express themselves… why cant everyone understand each other fully?
“Come up with the perfect definition of art.” The first college assignment I received. We had the whole semester to do so, and it could be as short as one sentence. It seemed pretty simple until we started. Every definition I came up with had an exception. It can't be something you hold because you cant hold onto music. It can’t be something you see because slam poetry and the church choir pointed out that we can’t see their voices. So art is not something physical… it’s not something your five senses can fully understand and digest.
Throughout Art 100 I found my professor continuously begging us to question what art is. He asked us what art meant to us…how it made us feel. The more art I produced the more questions I had for myself. What are my intentions? Why am I doing this? Does this even make sense? Painting after painting, sketch after sketch, I questioned my abilities and my motivation. Nothing made sense… specifically the C I received as my final grade for the course. How could my expressions and feelings be graded and judged to harshly? A 75. My professor thought my work was totally and completely average, and I believed him.
It wasn’t until recently, after a whole semester spent avoiding art classes and keeping my sketch book in the corner of my room, that I turned back to art. I realize now why nothing I did deserved a good grade. I realize the shallowness of my drawings and the shaky lines of my paintbrush. I lacked the confidence in my art that could make it great. Instead of fully emerging myself into my work, I questioned myself and looked for a set-in-stone “perfect definition of art.” It wasn’t until I understood that there is no such thing as this definition that I allowed myself to fall in love with my art. And so I’ve learned, whether it’s C- work or A+ work… my art is an expression of who I am. Art will never be as easily understood or accepted as something with a definite definition. It is much deeper than two sentences in a Webster dictionary and upon accepting and celebrating this, your art will grow in depth and talent.
